Synopsis: The end of the world happened quickly. The sun still shone, there was no explosion – just a tsunami-sized wave of human thought drowning the world in telepathic noise as everyone’s inner-most secrets became audible. Everyone’s thoughts, that is, except sixteen-year-old Danby.

Everyone looked like bad actors in a poorly dubbed movie. Their expressions didn’t match their emotions and their lips didn’t sync with what they were saying. But they were all so loud.

When The Snap sweeps the globe, everyone can instantly hear everything that everyone else is thinking. As secrets and lies are laid bare, suburbs and cities explode into insanity and violence. What might have been an evolutionary leap instead initiates the apocalypse.

Sixteen-year-old Danby Armstrong’s telepathy works very differently. She can tune into other people but they can’t tune into her. With only this slender defence, Danby must protect her little brother and reach the safety of her mother’s mountain retreat. But it’s 100 kilometres away and the highways are blocked by thousands of cars and surrounded by millions of people coming apart at the psychic seams.

Danby’s escape is made even more dangerous by another cataclysm that threatens humanity’s extinction. And her ability to survive this new world will be tested by a charismatic young man whose power to save lives may be worse than death itself.

Review: The Last Girl is a sci-fi apocalyptic novel set in Sydney, Australia. What is unique about this novel is the concept behind what brings the world to their feet. It’s not zombies, or aliens, or a huge act of nature. It’s our thoughts. When everyone starts hearing everyone else’s thoughts, people start unraveling. It’s the start of the end. Danby is our protagonist, a 16 year old girl. When “The Snap” happens, her father and stepmother end up dying in a violent incident after hearing each others thoughts. Danby has to try and get herself and her mentally disabled younger brother Evan 100km to a remote location in the Blue Mountains where her mother lives and where she hopes there’s relative safety.

What is unique about this novel as opposed to other apocalyptic style novels is that we’re actually there as it starts, and stay with the protagonist during the event itself. Most other novels of this genre begin after the event has happened and then it’s all about fighting for survival. A fair portion of this book follows Danby and other characters we meet and the first emotion they’re feeling is confusion. What happened?

In a world set in the not so distant future, social media is still ever present but if anything more dominant than it already is now. The idea behind The Snap is if that if we already turn on each other, and flame and troll others like we already see over the internet, then why would we expect any different if everyone can hear our thoughts? Instead of us learning from one another and working harmoniously to come together (which is what the internet could be used for in a perfect world), we instead, attack one another and become paranoid and defensive and lash out at one another.

The novel is written in such a way that there’s a strong cinematic edge to it, where the book plays like a movie in your mind as you’re reading it. This would make a fantastic movie or TV series if anyone out there is listening! The way Michael Adam’s describes Sydney around us crumbling makes it irrelevant as to whether you’ve actually spent time in Sydney before. The atmosphere and surroundings are described so well that you can picture it, the cars jammed on the highway, the dead bodies, the Sydney Harbour Bridge on fire and warped after having a plane flown into it, people’s steams of consciousness being broadcast in disjointed bits and pieces. It’s chaos.

The characters were relatable to me, with a real Australian feel about them that I could appreciate. Sometimes I had to remind myself that Danby is only 16 years old, because as smart and wise as she is for her age, sometimes she just made some silly decisions, like trusting people that maybe she shouldn’t be trusting or leaving her brother alone at times. In particular, I adored Nathan, the young doctor in training she meets. Nathan is similar to Danby – they can hear everyone else’s thoughts, but no one can hear theirs (you’ll find out the reason later in the book). You can’t help but become a little bit attached to Nathan, since he proves he is trustworthy and really just wants to help people.

I am delighted that this is going to be a series of three books, and I am so intrigued as to what’s going to happen to Danby now, as the book finishes with her having a major realisation which I think is going to make for an amazing sequel. Definitely worth reading for the unique plot and setting alone, but you’ll continue reading because of the characters.

We will be interviewing Michael Adam’s on this blog on October 28th, so make sure you come back then, as we’ll be talking more about The Last Girl!

Book Trailer:

What do you think?

How have I not heard of this?! It sounds just like my kind of book (I simply LOVE post-apocalytpic novels), though the premise reminds me a lot of THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO by Patrick Ness. Thoughts that suddenly become audible: very interesting. What’s more, it’s set in Australia!

I agree with you about most PA books being set only after the apocalypse, which in some cases works really well, but I’ve been craving for something different. I want to see the chaos the apocalypse caused. I want to see people struggling to adapt. Not people who have been born and bred to become soldiers. I love the parallel you drew between cyber-bullying and if that actually started happening in real life, all over the world. Not just the high school kind of bullying, but the fact that you are able to hear murderous intent coming from your own mother! *shudder* Yeah… there’re some things better left unknown. >.>

And I’m all for movie-like books! I haven’t come across many, but I do enjoy reading them because I’m able to visualize what’s happening more, and immerse myself in the story better. Yay for great descriptions as well! They don’t really affect my opinion of the book, but it’s good to have detailed ones every once in a while.

The only thing I’m concerned about is whether the reason given for Danby and Nathan’s “ability” is solid enough to be believable. I mean, it’s kind of convenient for a guy and a girl to have the same kind of ability (convenient for the romance, I mean), but other than that, I’m so glad to hear that this worked out well for you. I’d never heard of this book before, so thanks for putting it on my radar. Fab review, Melissa! :)

It’s only a new release which may account for why you haven’t heard of it, but it’s in stores now! Yes, I definitely understand the similarities with The Knife Of Never Letting Go – and surprisingly at the time of reading it, that didn’t cross my mind, but now that you’ve said it, that’s a great pick up. The Last Girl is more in the here and now whereas Knife was set in a world that felt different.

I didn’t feel that their ability was told in a way that didn’t feel realistic – I’ve simplified it for the purpose of my review, but for most of the book they’re wondering why it hasn’t affected them, and the reason behind it I felt was plausable and not a random reason that comes out of nowhere. I liked the way it was explained, and I feel like we’re going to learn more about that in the sequel too as there could be others!

[…] you regularly visit, you’ll have seen my review a couple of weeks ago of The Last Girl by Michael Adams. This week, I was fortune enough to be able to interview Michael Adams and ask him some questions […]